ABSTRACT
As the world becomes increasingly dependent on electrical appliances and equipment, energy consumption rapidly rises every year. Many programmes have been established in various countries to increase end-use equipment energy efciency. One of the most cost-effective and proven methods for increasing energy efciency of electrical appliances and equipment is to establish energy efciency standards and labels. Energy efciency standards are a set of procedures and regulations that prescribe the energy performance of manufactured products, sometimes prohibiting the sale of products less energy efcient than the minimum standard. The term ‘standard’ commonly encompasses two possible meanings:
1. A well-dened protocol (or laboratory test procedure) by which to obtain a sufciently accurate estimate of the energy performance of a product in the way it is typically used or at least a relative ranking of the energy performance compared to other models
2. A target limit on energy performance (usually a maximum use or minimum efciency) formally established by a government-based agency upon a specied test standard
Energy efciency labels are informative labels afxed to manufactured products indicating a product’s energy performance (usually in the form of energy use, efciency and/or cost) in order to provide consumers with the data necessary for making informed purchases. Energy labels serve as a complement to energy standards. They provide consumers with information that allows those who care to be able to select more efcient models. Labels also allow utility companies and government energy conservation agencies to offer incentives to consumers to buy the most energy-efcient products. The effectiveness of energy labels is highly dependent on how information is presented to the consumer.
